


Breakfast at Steve's

by KillTheDirector



Series: Breakfast At Steve's [2]
Category: The Avengers
Genre: F/M, M/M, Peaches is a great name for a spider, Peter is like six, Steve is a single dad, Superfamily, Tony generally creeps outside of the diner, Tony is TRYING to do the good thing, bitchy teachers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-21
Updated: 2012-08-21
Packaged: 2017-11-12 14:27:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/492183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KillTheDirector/pseuds/KillTheDirector
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Owning a diner, Steve is always there to hear about his customer’s problems. Raising a six-year old by himself (well, he knows he has help from Peggy and Michael) and having to deal with the annoyance that is Tony Stark, it’s a small wonder that Steve hasn’t cracked yet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breakfast at Steve's

Tony grumbles a bit as he shuffles into _Steve's_ , head pounding and eyes blood shot behind his Prada sunglasses. The bell on the door is far too cheery, and with a glare in the direction of it, Tony plops down on his regular seat at the counter.

Steve turns around, large smile in place, but upon seeing the hung-over billionaire it fades quickly. "Oh great." The blond mumbles, moving to get Tony's coffee before he starts bitching. Tony grunts a thanks, closing his tired eyes behind his sunglasses; Steve scoffs softly and goes off to take orders.

Tony sits quietly for a few seconds, sipping at the nicely made cup of coffee; he cracks open an eye when he hears someone crawl onto the barstool beside him. Peter grins brightly, plopping a rather large plastic terrarium onto the counter; Tony makes a choked sounding noise, scooting back when eight pairs of eyes fix upon him. "HOLY SHH-" He stops the squeaked sounding curse when Steve glares across the room.

"This is Peaches!" The six year old chirps happily, reaching into the terrarium and picking up the tarantula. He holds it close to Tony's face, causing more sputtering and near pants wetting. "You can pet her if ya want!"

Tony lifts a hand, an awkward sounding laugh coming out of his mouth. He scoots away, back pressing against the wall. "Nah, that's cool. I'm good, really..." Peter pouts briefly and puts the spider back into its terrarium. Tony lets out a little breath, relaxing when that thing is safely put away. Clearing his throat in order to regain his composure, Tony gulps down some coffee. "Shouldn't you be in school?"

Peter makes a face, eyebrows knitting together in confusion. "But it's summer..." Tony opens his mouth to reply but a short shriek of surprise from behind them causes both to turn. Steve marches over to the counter and snatches the terrarium; Peter shrinks down, a large pout working over his mouth.

"Peter, what have I told you about taking Peaches into the shop?" Steve hands the six year old the terrarium and points towards the stairs that lead up to their apartment. He lets out a long sigh, other hand going up to pinch at the bridge of his nose. "Now march up there and put her back in your room." Tony hides his laughter behind his hand, but apparently Steve has super-hearing because he turns a blue-eyed glare onto the billionaire.

Tony shrugs a shoulder, mouth perking up into a smirk. He leans his elbows on the counter and raises an eyebrow. "What? It's cute when you get all fatherly." Steve splutters and stomps away; Tony lifts his coffee mug, mood lifting from hangover pain to enjoyment. "Stevie-butt I need a refill!"

()()

Steve is wiping down the counters when Peggy walks in; she's carrying groceries, and Phil is trailing close behind with his nose pressed into a comic book. Steve grins brightly at the Brit, lifting a hand and waving her over to the counter. "Hey Pegs, how's it goin'?" She places her groceries onto the counter, sighing loudly as she sits down. Phil blindly does the same as his mother, nose still stuffed into his comic.

"Oh it's been fine. My feet are killing me though; Michael forgot to do the shopping, so I had to do it." She shakes her head, rolling her eyes in fondness. Steve hums, nodding.

He turns to Phil, sweeping a few crumbs in his hand before throwing them away. "What about you, buddy? Pete's been askin' where you are." The twelve year old glances up from his comic, shrugging a shoulder.

"Uh, nothing really going on." He glances back down at his comic and then back up to Steve, a little awkward smile on his face. "I'll come by tomorrow and take Pete to the park, if you want?" Steve nods gratefully, turning back to Peggy.

"You guys want anything? I think I have some leftover pie...?" Peggy shakes her head, gathering her grocery bags.

"Maybe later, we have to get home." She gives him a measured look, raising an eyebrow. "You and Peter are always welcome to stop by." Steve shakes his head, holding up a hand.

"Nah, thank you though. See you around, Pegs." Peggy nods and walks out of the diner, Phil following but pausing to raise a hand in a wave.

()()

Steve often thinks about how he came to own his diner; it was a silly dream that he and Bucky had when they were kids, so when they began dating after they got out of the army, it seemed like the logical course of action. Bucky had said that Steve always liked to fix things with food, and whenever someone came in with problems, the blond would place a plate of giant pancakes in front of them and ask if they wanted to talk about it.

Steve has thought about selling the shop since Bucky died, but he feels like that would be tarnishing the memory of his best-friend/boyfriend. Steve knows that if Bucky were able to see him moping around when he thought no one was looking, the brunet would punch him and tell him to stop being such a girl.

The blond sighs, rolling over in bed and cuddling his pillow close. He can hear Peter mumbling in the room next to his (the perks of having such thin walls, Steve supposes), and that causes a small smile to come over his mouth. Steve is thankful that Peggy had agreed to be his and Bucky's surrogate; he doesn't know what he would do now if he didn't have Peter. Another sigh comes out of Steve's mouth, and he rolls onto his back, staring blankly up at the ceiling.

Glancing at his alarm clock, Steve groans and scrubs a hand down his face, sitting up. He swings his legs over the edge of the bed and hops up, doing a quick set of jumping jacks to get all the sleep (or lack there of) out of his system. Steve dresses quickly, lacing up his shoes and popping his head in to check on Peter. The six year old is hanging upside down over the edge of the bed, sprawled and entirely too comfortable with the awkward position. Steve winces slightly and shuts the door; he locks the door that leads to the apartment, pocketing his keys before jogging down the stairs to open up shop early.

Tony is leaning against the main door, eyes closed and drool steadily leaking out of his mouth. Steve makes a sound of disgust and quickly swings the door open, causing the other man to let out a bark of surprise as he stumbles into the diner. "Oh god, what the hell?" Tony mumbles, words still slightly slurred from both sleep and whatever alcohol he pumped into his body the evening before.

Steve puts his hands on his hips, fixing a little glare on his face before he puffs out a long sigh. "What are you doing here, Stark?" Steve really doesn't want to deal with the man so early in the morning; the man in question yawns loudly and moves over to his normal stool. Steve rolls his eyes and goes behind the counter, flipping on the grill and going through the motions of preparing coffee.

Tony yawns again and watches as the blond carefully scoops the coffee beans into the machine; Steve makes a face at his staring and after making sure he's turned the machine on, Steve turns and leans against the counter, crossing his arms. "Well...mind telling me why you were slobbering all over my door?"

The billionaire rolls his eyes and then rests his chin on his hand. "I was hungry and in need of some caffeine."

"Why didn't you go to Starbucks or something? Don't you own that?" Tony scoffs.

"Starbucks doesn't have an owner with a great ass." The billionaire says with a shrug; Steve glares at him, clenching his jaw before turning around and pouring a steaming cup of coffee. He slides the mug over the counter, not bothering to ask for pay since he knows Tony will just leave a hundred (like he always does...it's a bit unnerving, and Steve's been meaning to give them back, but he knows that Tony would just give him a look and says he practically wipes his ass with them anyway). "So Stevie Wonder, why're you up so early?" Tony takes a sip of his coffee, hissing softly when it burns his tongue.

Steve shuffles a bit and then moves so he can check if any of the salt or pepper shakers need to be refilled. "Couldn't sleep." He says simply, lifting a shaker up to eye level to inspect.

Tony stares at the blond for a moment, brows furrowing slightly. He sips again at the still too hot coffee, making a face at the temperature. "That's weird; you seem like you're not one to get anything less than eight hours." The billionaire struggles to find something comforting to say; he rolls the mug between his hands. "Is there, uh anything wrong?"

Steve sucks in a breath, but he turns and offers the annoying billionaire a mega-watt smile. "Nope, everything's fine. 'Cept, you know...you being here."

Tony's squawk of protest makes the blond feel a bit better.

()()

Peter goes back to school in August and brings two new friends to the diner (well one's a friend, the other-Peter says-followed him home). Wade and Mary Jane seem like nice kids, well Mary Jane does so she gets extra syrup on her pancakes; Steve keeps a close watch on the other little boy though because he seems to like eyeing the block of knives a bit _too_ much for the blond's taste.

The three six year olds stomp up to the apartment, and Steve shakes his head in amusement while he serves diner to Thor and Loki who have been arguing about apartment prices for the past hour. The dark haired Brit gives Steve an exasperated look while Thor wildly waves his arms around, saying that Loki didn't need to move for him. "Please tell this oaf that it's not just for him, but also for myself that I'm moving to the States." Loki pleads, mouth curling into a little grin. Steve snorts, shaking his head while he pours them both more coffee.

"You should listen to your boyfriend, Thor." Steve raises an eyebrow at the other blond. "Unless you wanna be couched for a while." Turning away, laughing slightly at hearing Thor say he should have never introduced the two, Steve suddenly feels lonely. His hand grips the coffee pot tightly, and bitterly he wishes that he could have something like what those two, Michael and Peggy or even Clint and Natasha (no matter how crazy their fights and/or sex sounds from next door) have.

Shaking his head, Steve greets another customer with a smile and ignores Tony who pouts in the corner.

()()

One day, Steve's surprised to find Peter crying behind the counter. Feeling his heart break a little upon seeing his son's tear stricken face, Steve sets down the groceries he had been out getting and leans down so that he and Peter are eye level. "What's wrong, slugger?" He asks, placing a comforting hand on the six year old's shoulder. Big blue eyes moist with tears look up at the blond, and again Steve feels his heart break.

Peter hiccups and sniffs, hand coming up to wipe at the snot that drips down from his nose; Steve wraps his son up in a hug, waiting until Peter is ready to talk about what happened. "U-umm..." The six year old begins, forehead pressed against Steve's neck as tiny fingers clench at the blue-plaid shirt he's wearing.

"Is Wade picking on you?" Steve asks slowly, knowing that the other boy could get a bit...brash with Peter at times. The six year old shakes his head, little fingers clenching even more into the plaid.

"Um it's um my teacher..." Steve frowns, but when Peter pulls back, he can see the despair reflected in the boy's blue eyes. "We had ta write about our um family, and I did and s-she said th-that you were sick!" Peter launches forward and savagely hugs Steve who's gone rigged. "I don't want you ta be sick, Pop!"

Tightly hugging Peter, Steve clenches his jaw in anger. The six year old's sobs have quieted down a bit, but he still hiccups and Steve can feel the snot and tears soaking into his shirt. "It's okay, Pete. I'm okay, I'm not sick. Everything'll be okay, Pop's got ya..."

()()

"What the _hell_?" Peggy's voice snaps over the phone. Steve rubs his hand over his face, his own rage having died down to simmering disgust. He can hear Michael in the background; he asks Peggy what's wrong. "Nothing, just some self-righteous _arsehole_ ."

Steve glances into the living room where Peter has fallen asleep with his spider stuffy; he lets out a weary sigh, plopping down on one of the kitchen chairs. "I dunno, Pegs...I guess this woman has been giving Pete shit for a while now..." He hears Peggy's teeth grind together, and he wants to hug the woman.

"Have you talked to the principal?" She snaps. "This is discrimination! Picking on a student just because his father is gay; I've never heard something so disgusting in my life!"

Steve lets out another long sigh and runs a hand through his hair. "Yeah, I'm gonna do that tomorrow." He hears Peggy's fingers unclench from around the phone, and when she answers, her voice is soft.

"Good...I just hate seeing you both hurting," They both know what she's talking about, and that makes Steve's shoulders slump. "This is especially bad for Peter because he was brought up in a household whose morals aren't fucked up." Steve agrees quietly, and then steers the conversation to safer topics for a few moments. Before hanging up, Peggy reminds him to call Peter's principal; Steve laughs, shaking his head.

"I know, _dear_ , first thing in the morning."

Peggy laughs, and Steve's reminded why he'll always be a bit in love with her. "Good. Alright, I'll talk to you later. I love you."

Steve smiles softly. "Yeah, love you too."

()()

"Um...hi, I'm Steve Rogers, Peter Rogers father. Yeah, it's nice to talk to you too, Cynthia. Um, I have something that I need to discuss with the principal, is he in? Oh, thank you so much! Yeah, I'll see you at the diner."

" _Hello this is Principal Fury. How may I help you?_ "

"Hi...uhm...I don't normally complain but, um I'm Steve Rogers, Peter Roger's father. He's in the first grade, and...um-"

" _Sir...I would like to let you know that I'm extremely busy, so with all due respect, please spit it out._ "

"Oh! Sorry, um, anyway...a few days ago my son came home bawling his eyes out and at first I thought it was another student who was bothering him, but I found out later that it was a teacher. Sir, I asked him what the teacher had said and he had told me that they had an assignment to talk about their families...and well, Pete just told the truth about his family. His teacher had said a few comments to him, and when he came home and told me, they seemed a bit inappropriate."

" _...Mr. Rogers, what were these comments?_ "

()()

Steve furiously scrubs at the breakfast plates that have piled up; he's still thinking of the conversation he had with the principal of Peter's school and hopes that the man will do something. The bell on the door dings merrily and Steve straightens from hunching over the sink, wiping his wet hands on the apron tied tightly around his waist.

He moves behind the counter and is surprised to see Principal Fury all but marching into the shop. Tony glances over his shoulder, brows furrowing in confusion as the other man sits roughly down on a bright red barstool. Steve smiles a tad weakly, raising a hand to wave at the gruff looking man. "Um hello Principal Fury, anything I can get you?"

The man shakes his head sharply; Steve stands awkwardly for a moment, hands twitching for something to do while Tony merely stares at the (rather scary) man. Fury lets out a long sigh and crosses his arms on top of the counter. "Mr. Rogers, I've come to inform you that the teacher you complained about is threatening to sue you."

Steve blinks and then frowns. "What?! W-what the hell? She's the one who's been telling my kid that I'm 'sick'!" Tony's expression has changed from confused to angry within a matter of seconds. It didn't take having an IQ of a genius to figure out what was going on, nor did it take the IQ of a candy bracelet.

The billionaire gets up from his normal spot and grabs his coat, muttering something and slapping down a one hundred dollar bill. Steve doesn't notice him leave.

()()

Days later, Peter is perched at Tony's normal spot, colouring books and fat grade-school crayons scattered over the counter. It's a Sunday, so Steve hasn't opened up shop, but Peter had been begging him to make chocolate chip pancakes. Steve's mind is half-way on the task and half-way on the 'reasoning' behind his getting sued.

_Claiming I had been making it up because of 'differing religious views'. Bull shit._ Steve furiously flips a pancake, pressing it down with a frown.

"Pop! Someone's at the door!" Peter calls through the window. Steve lets out a sigh and stacks the pancakes he's cooked onto a plate.

"Could you tell them that we're closed today, Pete?" He hears little feet drop down to the floor and scramble to the door. A delighted chirp of 'Oh hi Mr. Stark!' has Steve groaning slightly. He pops his head out to the dining room, ready to tell Tony to kindly fuck off, when he sees that the man is dressed crisply, holding a nice leather brief-case. Steve furrows his eyebrows in confusion and turns off the grill in order to go over and greet the billionaire. He wipes his hands on his apron, noting the vast differences in their outfits (Target and Walmart meet Dolce and Gabbana). "Stark...uh what are you doing here?"

Tony greets him with a little smirk and then whips out an official looking paper. Steve's frown grows and he holds it at the edges in order not to get any butter on it. "Viola, everything is taken care of."

"...um, what?" Tony rolls his eyes and moves so that he's practically hovering over Steve (though the height difference makes this a tad awkward).

"That bitch (sorry kid) of a teacher won't be bother you guys any longer. I had my legal department take care of things for you." Steve looks at Tony for a moment, eyes wide before they narrow in suspicion.

"Why would you do that?" The billionaire gives him a look that practically screams ' _Why am I surrounded by morons?_ ' He sniffs slightly and turns from the blond, stuffing the hand that isn't holding the briefcase in one of his pockets.

"Well I knew that even though you don't use those hundreds I leave for you, you wouldn't be able to really afford the type of lawyer that would get you outta that kind of situation." Steve glares, making Tony awkwardly shuffle. "And I was trying to do a good thing, okay? Jesus _Christ_ , I try to do one nice thing for you and you get your panties in a bunch!"

The blond holds the glare for a moment before letting out a snicker at how flustered the normally suave billionaire is becoming. Steve smiles a bit and raises an eyebrow, tilting his head toward the counter and Tony's normal spot. "Um, thanks for that I guess...do you wanna have some pancakes?"

()()


End file.
